The Passage Of Time

Poul Anderson, The Boat Of A Million Years (London, 1991).

Pytheas invites Hanno to stay in the Greek colony of Massalia (Marseilles) as a citizen, not as a metic (p. 32). Hanno, refusing, says:

"'I am everywhere an alien.'" (ibid.)

Of course we know that this novel is about immortals but so far, in this opening chapter, Hanno could have been a stranded extraterrestrial or time traveler. What do immortals and time travelers have in common? An immortal may have experienced more past periods but cannot return to them.

Hanno says:

"'What else is life but always bidding farewell?'" (ibid.)

He speaks from experience whereas, when a Time Patrol recruit says:

"...I had been warned at the beginning that a Time Patrol agent's life becomes a series of farewells.'" (Time Patrol, New York, 2006) -

- he must add:

"I had yet to learn what that really meant.'" (ibid.)

On the facing page, three hundred and twenty nine years later, we read of "...yellow-brown loess soil..." (p. 33) in China. We will later learn that Hanno is still alive somewhere.